This is Where We All Come From
by AmysteriousGlint
Summary: Everything had happened so fast and she was too busy focusing on her destroyed world to see him there at all. Itachi/Sakura. Non-massacre. AU. Lemons. Mature Content. Slight Naru/saku
1. Chapter 1

This Is Where We All Come From

X

Chapter One

X

People turned their heads as a pink haired girl walked briskly past them and into the school with a paper coffee cup held firmly in her hand. Her face devoid of any emotion as she clutched her messenger bag strap to her shoulder. She ignored the stares as she walked past the glass entrance doors and towards her first class. She was used to it. Ever since she had dyed her hair people had taken on the habit of staring at her and whispering behind her back.

They said that she was unstable. She was far from it. They said it was because her family left her. She could care less about them. She only had a few more months of school left before she would be able to graduate half a year early and work full time at the café that she had grown to love. It was her second home. The smiles from her co-workers helping her live on with her life without fail.

By passing a few more staring classmates she walked into her first class of the day. Dropping her bag on the floor by her desk she sat her cup of coffee on the table with a small tap. Sliding into the seat, she reached into her bag and pulled out her drawing pad flipped through the covered pages until she got to a blank one, and started to sketch the many images that were starting to race through her mind.

Some would call her warped. Actually many called her warped, and perhaps, perhaps maybe she was. Just a smidgen.

The pictures she drew were always a little on the demented side, with a splash of whimsical. She loved the color and she loved surrealism. But not nearly as much as she loved way the red of blood and the strange position of broken limbs. Thus the demented side. She had numerous drawings with people having pikes shoved through their throats. Okay, so she was definitely warped. But hey, it wasn't like anyone was going to ever look through her book. The only people she ever even conversed with were her best friend Naruto and her boss Deidara.

But they weren't the only types of drawings she would create. She had numerous other ones, the ones that she actually let people view and critique. At a young age her mother had enrolled her in all sorts of classes. From art history all the way to photography. Her mother had made sure that she had knowledge of as many different types of art as possible. And because of all the classes that her mother had enrolled her in, she had pretty much grown up alone. And that didn't bother her, not even in the slightest. If anything she loved the feeling of not having people around her all day. It was probably the reason why she only had the two friends that she did have, and tolerated the rest.

She was proud that she didn't need someone to share a bed with. Cough like that girl Ino cough. She didn't need anyone, she liked her solitude. Besides to her she was too young to share a bed with anyone permanently. She had the rest of her life to look for her one and only. She had had her fair share of boyfriends, some more physical than others. But all of them she had eventually lost interest in and left behind. Not really ever feeling terrible about dumping them and moving on. Broken hearts shmoken hearts.

There were times though, when she felt as if she lacked emotions, and she was pretty sure there were quite a few people who would agree with that assumption – namely her ex's. Moving her pencil across the now slightly colored in paper she listened contently to the sound of the lead connect with the course paper.

Students were now filing into the classroom, some glancing over at her and then whispering to their friends. But as always she ignored their curious and frigid looks, instead focusing on the picture that was slowly being created by her talented hand. She would have thought that by now, they would have got used to seeing her with her bright hair. She had known that she would cause quite a stir when she first done it, but what she hadn't known was that it would still be causing a stir, 7 months later. But apparently her peers were a bunch of curious and judgmental fucks. Always debating the reason why the girl with the slightly large forehead and the gorgeous blonde hair had dyed her hair a color that was unnatural.

She really didn't have a good reason for her hair color. It was mostly a spur of the moment thing. She had woken up one morning and looked down at the hair dye that she had bought on a whim and had decided that she wanted to be different. Wanted to look different, wanted to be perceived differently. Well she definitely got that. And she had been so happy when her boss had just shrugged his shoulders at her new change and then fished out a blonde wig that he had used once for cosplay so that she could still work in the general public.

When the tragedy had happened it had been Sakura's choice to stay in Japan. Letting her father move back to the states, comforting him, telling him that she would be safe by staying with her Aunt Tsunade. Her father hadn't asked many questioned. He had only kissed her head and boarded the plane that would take him so many miles away from her. She had stayed with Naruto for a few weeks, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Because to be completely honest she wasn't about to bother her busy aunt. It was easier to bother Naruto and his perverted guardian than bother her aunt that was known for her short temper and her vicious swings.

It was just a normal day when she had walked into her favorite café after school with her favorite English novel in her hand. She had every intention of sitting at her favorite table by one of the large bay windows, sipping on her caramel and chocolate cappuccino as she read about Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett. She didn't know what had made her ask for an application. It was just a random feeling that sparked inside her. One of those slightly uplifting feelings that she would sometimes randomly get. Reminding her of the good old days when her family was happy and together, without any stress from any diseases or financial woes.

She had filled out the application with a swiftness that she didn't realize that she had. And it had only been a few days after that she had received a phone call from her what would then be her boss to come in for an interview. And it seemed from the moment that she had sat down in front of the blond haired man in her flannel shirt and ripped up, washed out jeans and combat boots. With her blonde hair at the time piled up on top of her head that everything was going to go in the right direction. To this day she still wasn't sure why he had hired her. He claimed it was because her of quirkiness and her no nonsense attitude. But either way she had never been more grateful. And it had only been a week after starting that job that her boss had offered to let her live in his old bachelor pad that was located above the café.

Her eyebrow slightly twitched as she heard a loud voice enter the room, not bothering to look up from her sketch book she ignored the noise and continued the shade in the character that she had thought up. Only bothering to glance up when she noticed the loud mouth plop down in the seat next to her.

"Naruto." She greeted with a soft voice and a slight nod. She didn't bother to avert her gaze away from her drawing as she felt him lean against her and look peer down at the image she was currently creating.

"Morbid." He said with an approving voice. His tone of voice and proximity caused her to finally look up from her progress she eyed her blonde haired friend and let a small smirk come to her un-glossed lips. He was grinning ear to ear with his hands folded behind his head.

"What is it that you want me to do?" She asked slowly as she set her pencil down and flexed her sore fingers. Smiling sheepishly he positioned himself into a more comfortable angle.

"You are coming over to teme's house with me after school." He said diligently. Sakura stared at him blankly before rolling her eyes and picking her pencil up and moving her attention back to her drawing.

"You have to Saki-chan!" He cried latching onto her arm. Stilling her pencil she stared down at her drawing in thought. Not bothering to look at her friend who was currently clinging to her arm, she knew that he would have a look of pleading etched onto his face.

"Why?" She asked, causing the blonde haired boy to smile broadly. He got an answer from her which was more than what he was used too. He was one step closer to getting her to agree with him. Out of all their years as friends, he knew that he was only one of the few that she really bothered with. Being an introvert, she didn't really go out. Usually when she did she would have more attention that what she really cared for.

"Because," Naruto began his broad smile still on his face. "His brother is in town. He needs our moral support."

Glancing at her friend she sat her pencil down once again and placed her chin in her hand, turning slightly so that she could give him her full attention.

"You want me to go to Sasuke-kun's house and give him moral support?" She asked, repeating what he had just said. Nodding vigorously at her statement her gave her another hopeful look. He knew that she didn't really care for the dark haired Uchiha. They had always clashed, him always insulting his fan girls and her always annoyed by his good looks. Naruto was almost convinced it was because she was attracted to him when she didn't want to be.

"Do I possibly get to see him get shit from his brother?" She asked with a slight quirk to her lips. Naruto couldn't help but let out a laugh at her sadistic nature and nodded his head in confirmation. She let a full smile come to her lips. "Pick me up from work at nine."

"Score!" He yelled as he removed his hand away from her arm and leaned back in his chair slouching a bit. He was just happy that he finally got the girl to agree to visit the Uchiha household with him, even though it was only because she wanted to see him get tortured by his older brother. But hey it was a step in the right direction. He didn't say anything for the rest of the period, letting the pink haired girl go back to her sketchbook.

X  
X

AN: I'm Baaaaaaaack. Did you miss me?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto the story line, or any of the characters. I do own this plot, ideas and any original characters that I decide to create. **

Chapter Two: This is where we all come from

X

Opening the glass door to the slightly busy café, Sakura scanned the room and surveyed her surroundings. Most of the inhabitants were college students, taking small drinks from their paper cups while laughing and joking to one another. Some had their nose buried into text books. A few in paperback novels. Sighing to herself, she rummaged through her faded bag for her iPod and ear phones. She didn't feel like heading home yet, and her shift for work didn't start for another hour in a half. Besides what was the point in walking up two flights of stairs to get to her place when she knew she would just get a phone call asking for her to come in early because some lazy ass decided that they were going to call in because they were sick, but in reality they were too lazy to put some clothes on and get off their boyfriends/girlfriend dick.

Walking past the semi-long line of customers, the pinkette maneuvered around the counter and began making herself her special coffee, earning a few heated looks from the customers. Considering what she was wearing she knew she sort of looked like some hobo that just came off the streets and just invited themselves to help themselves. Shrugging her shoulders she drizzled caramel on top of the whipped cream. Scooping up a bit of the creamy goodness with her finger she licked it clean off while nodding a greeting to one of her coworkers. She had come up with the perfect blend of chocolate, caramel and mocha while working on a particularly slow day and ever since then she refused to share it. Call her selfish, but she didn't want to share the unholy goodness with anyone else. Paying customers be damned.

Nodding another greeting to different co-worker, she quickly finished up and headed over to her favorite spot that was located at the back of the café next to the big bay windows that overlooked the busy main street outside. When her mom was still alive this was where they would come and just talk, she had picked the spot and ever since then she had just kept with it. It was her favorite spot mostly because people didn't usually wander to the back of the café unless there was no room in the cooler front room.

Shrugging off her wool coat she wove her way around the customers and made her way toward the arch that separated both of the rooms. It was starting to get annoyingly cold out, and unfortunately most of her clothing had rips or have been practically shredded, thus her hurry to get to the warmer back room. She really had to give her boss props for installing a fireplace in the back room. It made it downright cozy. And even though it wasn't as cold inside as it was outside she could still feel a faint chill that ran up her legs.

_I really should start wearing normal clothes._

She thought as she made a sharp turn around the corner, bee lining straight for her spot. But then stopped short when she noticed a man with long inky black hair that was pulled into a low pony tail already occupying it. Her brain kicked into overdrive as she took in his appearance from afar. She could have sworn that she had seen him somewhere before. He looked that familiar. Standing there she shifted her weight on her feet and popped out her hip. Her head cocked to the side as she studied his features. She could tell all the way from across the room that he as tall, and she knew from his expensive suit that he was wearing that he had money and most likely a job in a corporate office. He looked completely out of place as he traced his finger around the rim of his coffee mug. There had to be a good reason why he was in this part of town. Even though the café was located on a busy main street, it was still the more hipster part of Konoha. The business district was where she was sure that he normally hung around at.

Shrugging her shoulders she moved her feet towards him, she made her decision as to what she was going to do in that moment. Catching his attention as she slid gracefully into the chair across from him. She smiled warmly in greeting as she sipped her heavenly drink and then turned her attention to the cars as they zoomed past her. There was something peaceful about watching the world pass by. Sometimes when it was dark and rainy she would watch the vehicles long enough for them to feel like they were telling her a story, and sometimes she would even make up stories for them. How the mini-vans belonged to happy families and the slick fancy cars were the cars of arrogant and unhappy people who in turn would bump into the man or woman of their dreams and go on to buy one of those mini-vans.

Shifting in her seat she could feel his gaze on her. Peering out of the corner of her eyes she could see him studying her. It was something that she was used too; people always couldn't help but stare at her and study her. Trying to figure out what had went wrong in her life for her hair to be colored a bright pink, and for her to wear such tattered clothes. Obviously they just didn't understand fashion… actually she didn't understand it either. She just kinda went with what she thought was cute. And she had an unnatural fascination with pinterest. Yup, she was going to blame all of her strange fashion looks on that website. But seriously, who could blame her? She was pretty sure that Galaxy leggings and middle earth leggings were about the best things that had ever been invented.

But there was something about the way that he was staring her at her. Instead of the judgmental glares she felt as if it was almost intimate, but she could probably blame that on the fact that there was no one else in the back of the café. Just the two of them. Moving her attention away from the beautiful scenery she faced him blinking a couple of times.

"Do you always stare so adamantly?" She asked as she took another drink of her drink. "Or am I just that lucky?"

The man's eyebrow quirked up at her question but the rest of his face remained impassive.

"Do you always sit down across from strangers?" He asked.

Sakura blinked again, but this time she couldn't help but let a small smirk form on her lips. His voice was deep and slightly husky. Almost as if he had just woken up from a good night's rest, or had already used his voice box too much in a long passionate night.

Sakura shook her head as her thoughts took a turn south to the area of pervertedness. Her best friend had enough of that for the both of them. He must just be one of those people that when they speak they just make you swoon because it was so damn alluring. She almost wished that he would talk more just so that she could sit there and listen to his silky voice. And that was so unlike her, she hated people; she liked for them to not speak to her. She could handle them at her job, considering that was a part of her job. Talk to assholes all day, take their order and deal when they decided they wanted to be a dick.

"Actually I happen to make that a habit." She said, letting a cheeky smile come to her lips once again. The dark haired man didn't respond, only quirked his eyebrow once again. He let out a soft sigh and then turned his attention back to the view that he had originally been looking out at before she had approached him.

Now that she was closer it was her turn to study him. And she was definitely positive that she had met him somewhere before. His features were so familiar. His straight nose and his aristocratic appearance. But there was something else; there was sadness about the young man. And she was pretty sure that he hadn't been getting enough sleep from how dark the circles under his eyes were. Tilting her head to the side she stared deeply at him. She had never seen someone so perfectly proportioned in the face. Usually people's faces weren't so symmetrical. One side would be slightly uneven from the other. Like her, one of her eyes was slightly larger than the other. Also she was pretty sure that her lips were lopsided. One side of the bottom fuller than the other. But the man in front of her didn't have those. But then again she hadn't exactly looked at him really close. She would have to get nose to nose to see how well his features were evened out. But from where she was sitting she couldn't help but gaze at his perfection.

"Why are you staring?" He asked with narrowed eyes. Knocking her out of her thoughts. But instead of averting her eyes she continued to gawk.

"You look sad." She murmured against her cup. "Why are you so sad?"

X

Itachi was very rarely surprised, he had seen enough for most things to not even bother him or cause a reaction out of him. But the females question had completely mystified him. He had to catch himself from widening his eyes from her blatant observation. Most people would just look at him and then just hope that he hadn't caught their gaze. But not this girl, instead of sitting away from him like most people do, she just sauntered on up to him and had oh so kindly invaded his personal space, even though she was sitting across the table. It was still his personal space.

Her gaze bothered him. He was used to people staring at him ogling his good looks and even his body on some occasions, but the way that she looked at him was as if she was peeling back layer after layer of his skin and figuring everything out about him. He wasn't sure how she knew. How could she know that his issues were affecting him like that from looking at him for just a few moments?

"Pardon?" He asked smoothly, successfully keeping from choking the word out. The girl in front of him shrugged her shoulders without thought and repeated herself.

"Why are you so sad?"

He frowned at her for a few long moments and was slightly impressed that she didn't fling away from his intense gaze like most people did when he focused his attention at them. She just kept her eyes fixated on his, obviously not really caring that he was trying to frighten her away.

'_Who is this girl?'_

"I'm not sad." He replied drearily.

"Liar." She said sang softly, a small smile quirking on her lips.

Inching his face forward not removing his eyes from hers.

"You don't know me." He whispered venomously. The girl's face brightened and she let out an infectious laugh.

"Cherry-chan?"

Looking away from the pink haired girl that was laughing in front of him, Itachi turned his attention to the person who had approached them without him noticing. Letting out a sigh of relief he saw his longtime friend Deidara walking towards their table with slight mirth in his eyes. The girl in front of him turned her full attention to the blonde still laughing, but trying with difficultly to hold it all in.

"Y-yes?" She asked through her convulsions of laughter.

"You are bothering a customer." He said pausing to shake his head, then continuing, "Again."

The girl quieted down with her laughter and smiled brightly before getting up from her seat. Itachi watched with mild interest as the girl grabbed her bag that she had discarded on the linoleum floor and walked over to where his blonde friend stood. He stood at least a foot taller than the girl. She murmured something under her breath so that only Deidara could hear. After nodding and shrugging his shoulder the girl peered back at him with the same broad smile on her face and waved a quick goodbye before leaving the room all together.

"Sorry about that Itachi-san." Deidara said rubbing the back of his head as he took her vacated seat. "She works for me. She is a little out there, but she means well."

"Hn." The stoic man hummed before turning his attention back to the pedestrians that were in a world of their own. Not even realizing that he was watching them. He could see the street lights starting to pop on, and at that moment he had never been more thankful that he had turned his phone on silent. He was already sure that his voicemail was full and by the time that he knew he would look at his texts he wouldn't even want to answer them. Besides his mind was still reeling over the fact that the girl had laughed at his words. She acted as if she did know him, and he was pretty sure that they had never met one another. Even if she could be one of Sasuke's friends there was no way that he could have met her. He was pretty sure that he would have remembered a girl with such bright hair and vivid eyes. Also he was pretty sure he would remember a girl who dressed in such a strange way. He didn't see many people walk around in flannel shirts as a light jacket and ripped skinny jeans with combat boots. The only people he knew who dressed remotely like that were people from the west. He had been to America and Britain a few times on business and he was pretty sure that he had seen a few people there dress like that, but he had never seen a Japanese woman dress like that. But then again the girl that had approached him looked far from Japanese. She looked more western than anything else.

But then again he wasn't used to seeing girls not wear anything other than designer labels. With where he worked that was all he seen, even his suit that he was wearing was designer. He wasn't used to girls looking like they had just walked out of a thrift store. But it seemed like around this part of town a lot of people looked like they had.

"You see, I know that Hn is bullshit, yeah." Deidara said nonchalantly as he rested his head on the palm of his hand. "I'm guessing you are here to take me up on that offer?"

Itachi didn't respond he honestly had no idea why he was even here. He wanted to say that it was because he hadn't seen his friend in a few weeks but he knew that would be a lie, and he knew that Dei would easily see right through that. He didn't know exactly what had possessed him to drive all the way across town and enter the tiny café. Maybe it was because of the ultimatum his girlfriend had put on him, perhaps it could be the meetings that his father had been bothering him to attend. Either way he was at the end of his rope if he had driven all the way over here. He had a dinner party to attend in an hour and he knew that he would not be attending it much to his girlfriends and his family's dismay.

Turning his attention away from the city scenery and running his hand down his face he looked at his longtime friend and nodded a curt nod.

X

Sakura was happy that she didn't have to come up with some crazy ridiculous excuse as to not go over to Uchiha's house. The moment that she climbed up the two flights of stairs that led to her apartment after her long shift in the café and let herself in she had received a text stating that they weren't going to bother him that night. And even though she adored giving the Uchiha hell about his choices in females she couldn't help but be thankful that she wasn't going. She was exhausted and she really couldn't stand his holier than thou attitude that he liked to throw at her. It seemed that just because she had a vagina that he thought she should develop a damn crush on him. Don't get her wrong, he was freaking attractive but his personality just made her was to rage on his and connect her fist with his perfectly shaped nose.

Throwing her keys on her glass coffee table that was littered with books; she dropped her bag on the floor and proceeded to fall onto her over stuffed and comfortable couch with her shoes hanging slightly off her feet. She felt her stomach rumble but she really didn't want to attempt to cook something and she had forgotten to grab some food from the café two floors down. So she would have to suffer till the morning unless she could convince Deidara to climb up the stairs and cook her dinner. That was one of the things that she was terrible at, cooking. Seriously she had the tendency to even burn water. And apparently that was something that was difficult to do. She gave up the whole cooking scene the moment that she had attempted to cook a romantic dinner with one of her ex-boyfriends. The dinner had ended up turning out pretty bad. It had caused a bad case of food poisoning for her and caused her boyfriend at the time to go to the hospital with salmonella poisoning. She hadn't meant to have that happen, but she knew from then on to probably not leave chicken out so long on the counter.

Grabbing a pillow and letting her head plop down onto the mismatched fabric she groaned in pleasure as her body began to relax. She never would have been able to afford half of the furniture in the apartment if it hadn't been for Deidara. She was slightly sure that he had a thing for her but it was something that she had just ignored. Besides he was engaged to his longtime girlfriend and she had made it clear once she turned 18 that she didn't want any sort of relationship with him like that. But she still couldn't help but feel nice when he did get her things. She was starting to feel spoiled by him. Sometimes she thought it was because he parents were no longer around and that she was somewhat on her own.

Originally he hadn't wanted her to live in his old apartment alone, he didn't mind her staying there but he always went on about how he thought it would be so much safer if she had someone stay with her, eventually they had come to an agreement that she didn't need a roommate, but she would let any of his friends stay in the spare bedroom or couch if they needed it. That would help with the rent that she couldn't afford. And believe her, his friends sure did get into fights with their significant others quite a bit. But the last one who had stayed with her for a few weeks had probably been her favorite.

Kisame was her buddy. Shark boy and her had instantly got along when he had woken up one morning and saw that she was painting in barely anything and the painting had been him as a shark eating the particular Uchiha that she couldn't stand. After that they had been inseparable, he had approached her numerous times about a sexual relationship but each time she couldn't help but laugh at the blue skinned man. He was more like a giant teddy bear. A gay straight bff that was so totally and completely friend zoned.

Closing her eyes she inhaled deeply, she didn't have to go to school tomorrow which she was grateful for. It was her weekend, which more than likely would involve long shifts at the café and long hours of painting and drawing. The upside was that she didn't have to wear pants when she painted, or a bra. Deidara already hated the fact that she had got paint on his carpet, so she had decided to rip the carpet up and install hardwood flooring so that she could place a mat down and paint with all the energy that she possessed. Groaning she rolled onto her side, kicked off her shoes and turned her big screen television on. She was supposed to leave her shoes at the door as a sign of respect to the owner of the home but she still tended to behave like an American. Considering when she was younger it had never been drilled into her head and the fact that she lived alone she really didn't care about the whole respect thing. Besides she was lying on the couch, she was close enough to her door.

One thing she had learned from her different nationalities was that Americans were lazy compared to her Japanese and French backgrounds. Seriously when she lived in America she could just walk into a house and sit on a sofa with her muddy shoes still on and it wasn't a big thing. It had been a slight shock when she had moved overseas and all of that had changed. She had spent the better part of her childhood, up until she was about six in America and then her family had moved to France to spend time with her mother's side of the family. And then eventually her mother and father had decided to move back to Japan so that her mother could again be with her father's side. But that was around the time when her mother's health had taken a turn for the worse, and all her father had wanted to do was make her as comfortable as possible.

Even after all the years of her living in Japan, it still confused the ever loving hell out of her. It was probably why people always liked to stare at her like she was some kind of pariah. She would always walk around reading English novels and listening to French music. She didn't really want to fit in with the rest of her peers; she wanted to keep ahold of her heritage. And it just so happened to be a western heritage. Then again she was sure that she was born to stand out, what with her pale blonde hair and bright green eyes. Of course genetics wanted to hate her also and give her small boobs and a rather large forehead that she was thankful she had finally grown into.

Just as she was about to closer her eyes and let her body relax and fall into a blissful slumber she was startled by a loud knock on her front door. Groaning she rolled off the couch and made her way to the door, making sure to step over her discarded shoes and her bag that she had dropped hazardly to the floor. Turning the doorknob and pulling the door open she eyed her visitors with disdain. Blinking a couple times as she recognized the dark haired male from the café from before her shift she raised her eyebrow and moved out of the entrance so that they could enter. Yawning she turned away from the two who had just entered her apartment and headed towards her bedroom, while unbuttoning her flannel shirt. Tossing the shirt into the clothes hamper she turned back and looked at them in just her small tank top and unbuttoned her pants.

"Please turn off the TV when you're done." She murmured as she started to push the waist of her pants down past her hips as she closed the door.

X

Itachi stood next to his friend slightly gaping. The pink haired girl known as Sakura had just blatantly started to strip in front of them and he couldn't help but cough a little and adjust his tie. Deidara was still staring at the door with a strange expression on his face as Itachi turned his attention away and studied the small apartment. It was almost the same as he remembered when Deidara had occupied it a few years prior. The only difference was the hardwood floors, the English novels and the easel that was set up next to the large window that overlooked the city. The television was also different, but the video game systems that were strung about weren't so foreign to him. That was exactly the same as before when they had all been bachelors.

"I told you she was a bit different." The blonde coughed as she broke the slightly uncomfortable silence that had ensued the moment that the pinkette had shrugged off her top. Shaking his head the elder Uchiha made his way toward the kitchen and opened the fridge, letting himself let a small smirk come to his face as he recognized all the junk food that was currently on the shelves. Opening the freezer he noticed the many boxed dinners and numerous tubs of strawberry ice cream. With the amount of junk food and the large television he was almost okay with the fact that he would be rooming with a highschooler for a few weeks. Or at least he until he could come to a decision about what he was going to do with his girlfriend and how he was going to deal with his father. His girlfriend was a vegan. Meat and most other things were prohibited in the house, and even though he had lived with her for so long that hadn't changed his love for a juicy hamburger and prebaked cookies from a tinfoil case. It had actually been ages since he had taken a bite of eggs or sushi for that matter. And about them cookies, his mouth started to slightly water as he noticed a small plastic bag full of them lying on the counter.

Ignoring it for the time being he made his way toward where all her paint supplies were thrown around. She really could work on her organizational skills. Eyeing the painting that was sitting on the easel, he actually let out a laugh as she recognized the familiar face being ate alive by a dinosaur. The girl really was something else, and he couldn't wait for his brother to see the painting. Turning back toward his friend he made a mental note to inquire about buying the painting from the girl at a later date. From the looks of her kitchen she could use the money for food. But he knew the artist types; they liked to buy things like paint and new canvas's – or clay in Deidara's case – before they bought food.

"She is definitely different." Itachi mumbled as he scratched his head. "Does she know?"

Deidara shrugged as he sat himself down on the couch.

"She doesn't care. Kisame lived here for like two months with her a while back. It was hilarious how well they got along. They are both morbid beyond belief."

Itachi nodded his head in agreement; it was true his best friend was morbid. It was that reason alone that was the reason why his friend let people call him shark boy or fish boy. Although he preferred shark over fish, His reasoning was because sharks were the kings of the ocean. Or so that's what he said.

"Besides her place is the best place to hide out at. She never has visitors. She will go to them before she lets them come here."

Sitting down next to his friends, Itachi let his eyes roam the walls of the apartment. They were mostly bare except for a few anime posters and a few foreign movie posters. In the corner of the apartment were replica swords from different popular animes and even a katana that he was sure was not real. Considering he knew what they went for he was positive that it was just a copy. Turning his attention to the television he noticed that a popular British show was airing and he leaned back and watched intently. It had also been ages since he had caught up with this show in particular. From the amount of work that he had been putting in it was hard to find the time to play catch up with anything.

"Already getting comfortable aren't you?" Deidara scoffed with a smile.

Itachi hn'd as he let all his attention go to the show that was playing. He would never admit to most of his family but he liked this sort of thing. He liked the sci-fi scene and the anime and video game scene. It had always kept him preoccupied when there was nothing else to do. At the beginning of his relationship, his girlfriend had given him shit about his reading materials and television shows. He had let those go pretty quickly only to hold onto his video games. It was his only way to get away from most of the crap that went on at the company that he helped run. To say he had been disappointed when he had arrived home one night to find that they were all gone was an understatement. After that he had focused all his energy in martial arts and worked. But there had been a few times where he made up excuses to go over to his friend's house to sit around for a few hours, drink some beers and eat food that he knew would disgust his girlfriend and play some of his friend's games.

Deidara stood up from his sitting position and headed toward the front door and opened it so that he could leave, but not before instructing his friend where his room was. Before leaving completely he turned around and faced Itachi.

"She makes terrible first impressions you know. She doesn't really think twice about what people will think of her, and she psychoanalyzes people, it's a bad habit of hers. But she's a good kid, hilarious once you get to know her. Don't be a dick, yeah."

Itachi rested his head on the back of the couch and stared up at the ceiling. He didn't know why he had suddenly decided to up his friends offer. He just couldn't handle being around his girlfriend any longer. The strict diets and from the way that she had been acting lately he was sure that she was starting to hint around for him to take the next step in their relationship. Something that he wasn't sure he was ready for. So while he was at work earlier in the day the night that he and his blonde friend had met up for drinks had crossed his mind. His offer to let him stay at his old apartment for a while to let things cool off. He had said at the time that someone already lived there, but as a favor to him she would let his friend's crash there anytime they needed too.

He and Kimi had been together for years and he had always been annoyed by her lavish spending and her strange eating habits. But it was something that he could easily ignore because she was the girl that his father had set him up with and wanted him to marry. She had specifically been picked out for him because of her upbringing. She already knew how to handle the high society events and how to act in public and in front of paparazzi. She would be the perfect wife to Itachi to parade around with, a trophy on his arm. But it seemed the more time that he spent with her the more she became intolerable and somewhat insecure. If he would arrive home from work a little later without telling her she would flip and star accusing him of things that he never had any intention of doing. Not that he hadn't thought about it, he had definitely thought about it considering the way that he had caught his personal secretary staring at him longingly. But when it came to relationships with him, he was strictly in a relationship. There was no playing around; he always stayed faithful to that one person. Of course he had desires and he had had his fair share of women in his past. But that didn't mean that he was cheating on her now, but the more she bitched about it the more he almost wanted too. There had been a few times where he caught himself getting closer to another female without him noticing until his lips were almost upon them.

Clicking the TV off, Itachi moved from the couch and headed down the hallway that he saw Sakura retreat too while removing articles of her clothes. Opening the door the left of hers he walked into the small room that would be his for however long. Falling down onto the bed he let his eyes drift close. He was surprised by how exhausted he was. He had been having sleepless nights because of the stress that the company and Kimi had been putting on him.

As his body began to relax he let his thoughts wander to the earlier conversation he had had with Sakura. He slowly drifted to sleep hearing the words echo in his mind,

"_Why are you so sad?"_

X

X

AN: Remember when I had shorter chapters? Yeah, I'm starting to combine the chapters and making them longer for you guys. Dancing shoes is about to be rewritten so I hope you all enjoy. Thanks for the new reviews by the way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own the plot and any of the Original Characters. **

**Chapter Three: This is Where We All Come From**

X

X

Itachi woke up to a clamor in the kitchen. Groaning to himself he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and blinked a couple times to that his eyes could adjust to the semi bright room. Rays of sunlight had seeped in through the slightly broken blinds of the window the left of his bed and from his position on the bed, the annoying beams were blaring right into his eyes. Sitting up from his lying position he ran a hand down his face and stretched his stiff limbs. Wiping the drool from his mouth he looked down at the hardwood floor. He hadn't known that he had been that tired. He hadn't been sleeping much lately, and he was pretty sure that he had made up for all that missed z's. Judging from the position of the light that was peeking in through the window, he could easily tell it was already around lunch time. He was about six hours late for work and for some reason all he wanted to do was change out of his wrinkly suit and eat a bowl of ramen.

Moving to stand up he untied his hair and ran his fingers through the long tresses attempting to get rid of some of the knots that had formed while he had slept. Moving towards the bedroom entrance he stopped and stared at the closed door. He was pretty sure the night before he had forgotten to close it. Shaking his head he opened it and made his way into the living area. His eyes widening slightly as he entered the main room and took in the appearance of his new temporary roommate.

Sakura was sitting at her easel in barely anything with a paintbrush in her hand. Her hand moved quickly across the blank canvas. He stood there for a few moments watching her before she realized that he was staring at her. Turning her attention away from the canvas and swiveled her chair and faced him.

Getting a better look at her, Itachi had to slightly shift his footing and picture something slightly disturbing to keep his friend was standing at attention. The female in front of him was staring at him with large green eyes in nothing but a pale green tank top and lacy panties. And from the obvious outline of her tank top he could easily assume that she was also not wearing a bra. There was just something about the way that she stared at him with her obnoxiously pink hair piled high on top of her head.

"Morning." She said slowly, before moving to stand up causing him to close his eyes and take a deep breath. Her being dressing in such little attire should be legal. Actually he was pretty positive it was illegal. Freaking jailbait. Well not for her, but it was definitely going to get him into trouble. Why hadn't Deidara warned him about this? Didn't he know that one of the issues that he had been having with his girlfriend was the fact that she thought he had been cheating. Which he hadn't but he was faintly sure that living with a girl that walked around like she did was going to cause his thoughts to wander.

Hell they were already starting to wander to very bad places.

The pink haired teenager made her way towards him, her hips swaying slightly as she moved. He watched as she grabbed a bag from the sofa and walked it over to him. Handing him the bag she made her way into the kitchen and proceeded to open the freezer and pull out a box of eggos.

"Are you hungry?" She asked as she pulled out a couple eggos and plugged in the toaster. Itachi stared down at the bag that she had just handed him with a curious face.

"Deidara stopped by earlier in the morning with a bag of clothes that he said you could borrow. Also, there is an extra toothbrush in the bathroom and I'm sorry that I don't have a lot of food to cook. I can go shopping if you'd like or I can just call in an order to the café downstairs. I can usually get away with barely paying anything since I practically live there." She murmured answering all of his unspoken questions.

Itachi just nodded as he opened the bag and pulled out the clothes that his friend had loaned them. Turning around he headed back into his room to change.

When he reemerged from the room he smelled the wonderful smell of eggos and syrup. The girl was still in the kitchen only this time she was jumping around with her fingers in her mouth. Raising and eyebrow at the jumping girl, he tried hard not to look at her chest as she moved.

"Burned myself. Damn food." She sighed as she stopped jumping and smeared butter on her eggo and layered on the syrup. Nodding her head toward his plate, Itachi picked up a fork and started to cut into the unhealthy breakfast.

He attempted with difficulty to not look at the scantily dressed female, but eventually failed. Letting his eyes sweep over her form once again he was happy that his friend had brought his over sweat pants. It made it so much easier to hide the rising unwanted friend. Shutting his eyes as images of her appeared in his head, he wanted to bang his head into a wall or something. She was too young. She was his brother's age, and he was pretty sure that she was also his brother acquaintance considering the painting that he had seen the night before. He could safely assume that she didn't exactly care for him though taking into account the way that his little brother's portrait was getting devoured by an extinct lizard.

He would feel so much better if she would put clothes back on, considering her age and the fact that he couldn't help but stare at her perky breasts.

"My name is Haruno Sakura." She said suddenly causing his thoughts to stop and for his eyes to move to her face. A small smiled curved to her lips. "In case you wanted to know."

Turn away from him she made her way back over to where she had been sitting with her plate before he had walked into the room. Clearing his throat, he was thankful his voice didn't stutter as he spoke,

"Do you think you could maybe put pants on?"

Sakura stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him with a funny expression.

"Deidara didn't mention that you were a prude." She stated before turning back to her painting, completely ignoring his request for her to put clothes on.

His eyebrow rose once again. He was starting to wonder if perhaps he should just permanently staple them that way, because it didn't seem that this girl was going to stop surprising him anywhere in the near future. He felt annoyance slowly start to build in his chest; he was used to people doing what he told them to do. He was Vice President of a major global corporation for god's sake, he wasn't about to let some high school girl treat him like he was any less than he was. He was asking for her sake as well as his. It had been a long time since a female had walked around and had aroused him this much. Other than his ex-secretary. But he had fired her because he knew that if she kept working there then he would have done something extremely stupid. Extremely stupid and yet possibly so extremely satisfying.

Ignoring his food momentarily, he quickly moved across the room to where she sat and grabbed ahold of her wrist in mid brush stroke. The pink haired female peered up at him in slight shock and confusion. He was completely ignoring the annoyance that could obviously been seen in her eyes also.

"I was being polite about it. Put some clothes on." He bit out as nicely as he could. He was trying to be somewhat civil to this girl for his friend's sake, and for his own sake. Hell even for her own sake. She stared at his with her large emerald eyes and dropped her paintbrush back on the tray that the rest of her art supplies rested on. Standing up she pressed her hands against his broad chest and pushed him away from her.

"I'll humor you this one time. But you either get used to this, or find somewhere else to stay for the time being." She muttered huffily as she maneuvered around him and swayed into her bedroom.

Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

X

Sakura was pretty sure that if she wouldn't have pushed him away from her general body space and walked away she would've punched him square in his perfectly shaped eye. She didn't condone any type of fighting, but she knew she had one hell of a right hook and the dark haired male bastard deserved to get his pretty face scarred or at least bruised severely. It irked her that he was a guest in her home and he was telling her to put clothes on. If she wanted to wear nothing but her damn panties then let her be. Kisame and Deidara sure as hell never seemed to mind it. It wasn't her fault that she was blessed with a curvy body, so kill her she liked to flaunt it. And pants were utterly uncomfortable. He was lucky she was even wearing clothes, so really he could just go suck it.

Rummaging thought her drawers she pulled out her black studded shorts that had white glittery lace sewn onto the shredded edges of them. She had made them herself; wanting to save her favorite pair of shorts she had cut a good portion of the front off and replaced it with some cheap lace that she had caught on sale. Throwing her shorts onto the bed she walked across the room to her closet, grabbed a bra and snapped it on. Eyeing her many shirts she finally settled on one of her band shirts that she had managed to collect from the states and a simple white cami so that it could cover some of the skin that she would be showing. Shimmying on her shorts she grabbed a pair of socks and her favorite boots as she left her room, doubling back only to grab her black hoodie. Hopping around as she tried to pull her boots on her feet she somehow managed to grab her keys and messenger bag before ignoring the dark hair male and leaving the apartment. For once on her day off she was going to go bother someone who could appreciate her affinity for wearing barely anything.

Knocking briskly on the familiar door, Sakura waited patiently in the frigid air for her best friend to answer the door. It was still somewhat early, well okay it was almost lunch time, but she was pretty sure that if she banged her fist into the door enough someone would finally answer. After all he did live with his godfather, the old perverted man who claimed to be a well-established author. She was pretty sure that he just a porn author, and she would know, she did after all read one of his books that he always talked about and claimed to be gathering information for. She put it down under the 'might as well be porn movie' category. Erotic fiction her ass, it was definitely porn, only in words. Banging her fist into the door once again he smiled smugly as she heard a soft padding of feet and then a click as the door unlocked. Sakura gave the sleepy Naruto a blank stare and walked past him into his warm house. Naruto said nothing as he followed her up the stairs and into his messy room. Pulling his shirt back over his head he flung it across the room and crawled back into his bed and scooted over so that she could slide in next to him. They had been doing this for the past year or so. Whenever Sakura got lonely or annoyed with someone she would just come over to his house and cuddle with him in his bed for a few hours. Sometimes even going as far as falling asleep on him. She tended to have serious bouts of insomnia and his overly warm body usually was all it took to lure her into a much needed blissful sleep.

There had been a few times where they had both been intoxicated when she had still lived with him that things had slightly escalated to something more. Never actually leading to sex, there was only heavy petting and slight pecks on each other's lips. After those times they had always agreed to not speak about it. They didn't want their relationship or whatever it was to become known with their other friends. As far as everyone knew he was just one of her good friends. And she planned on keeping it that way.

Kicking off her boots she unbuttoned her shorts and slid them down her legs. Naruto watched through half closed eyes as she lifted the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, taking her cami along with her so that she was only standing there in her bra and panties. He raised his eyebrows as she kneeled on his bed and pulled the blankets up so that they would cover her bare flesh. Moving closer to his warm body she wrapped her arm around his muscled stomach as she cuddled into his chest. Heaving a sigh of pleasure as his warmth and smell invaded her senses. Resting his hand on her head so that she could fall asleep with his arm resting comfortably under her neck. After a few moments of cuddling they both drifted off into a dreamland, neither bothering with confusing words.

X

Sasuke didn't quite know what to think of his brother's temporary apartment. His first thought was that it was slightly girly, and then he saw the massive TV and the video game system. With that he was pretty sure that it was one of his brother's friends who had a girlfriend. Walking numbly through the room with his brother following closely behind and closing the front door.

"What do you want?" Itachi asked annoyance evident in his tone. Sasuke knew that he didn't like unexpected visitors, and he was pretty sure that his older brother was also trying to figure out how he knew where to find him. Besides if he was still staying with his girlfriend then his random visit to his brother's hideaway wouldn't have ever happened. But of course their father had ordered him to find him and to see what was going on and to possibly do some damage control.

"Father sent me." He said as he scrunched his nose at the drying paint that was splattered against the once white walls. Itachi rolled his eyes as he moved across the apartment and sat down on the plush sofa. Eying his brother curiously, Sasuke moved so that he was sitting down next to him.

"Tell father not to bother." The elder Uchiha said curtly as he grabbed the remote and flicked on the television. Instantly a British show began to play. Sasuke said nothing for a moment as he watched the pictures flash across the screen.

"Have you at least told her you wanted to split?" He asked with his face resting in the palm of his hands. Itachi was quiet for a few moments causing the younger Uchiha to groan and throw himself against the back of the couch. "You have got to be kidding me. Don't you think the girl deserves some sort of explanation?"

Itachi shrugged as he stood up and made his way to the kitchen and grabbed the bowl of popcorn that he had just finished making before his brother had knocked on the front door. Walking back to the sofa with the popcorn in hand, he grabbed a handful and put it in his mouth before offering the bowl to Sasuke. Sighing, the younger Uchiha took the bowl from his brother and began to slowly eat it.

"I'm sure she will figure it out." Itachi said lightly.

He really wasn't the type to settle down. Sasuke had known this all his life, their father also knew this. Itachi had always been the one that had brought home numerous girls that he never bothered to learn the names of. It had taken a lot of restraint on his part to enter a relationship with Kimi and Sasuke knew that. Their father had simply ignored the fact, but from the very beginning he and Naruto had taken bets to see how long their relationship would last. So far, Naruto was winning. Which was sad because it almost proved that the blonde haired Dobe knew his brother better than he did.

Sasuke pursed his lips before taking another bite of the popcorn, only stopping when he noticed the pack of chocolate chip cookies that was lying on the coffee table.

"Is that chocolate chip?" He asked with a slight hunger to his eyes. Itachi hn'd and grabbed the bag and handed it to his younger brother.

"Fuck yes." Sasuke murmured as he shoveled the cookies into his mouth, "I have to admit, this is a pretty nice set up."

"It also has a pretty nice view." Itachi responded lightly. Not bothering to go into detail exactly what he meant by view. Because if his younger brother knew about the pink haired vixen that liked to walk around in practically nothing he would either be jealous or actually be disturbed that his brother was staying with a female that he knew. He was leaning towards the disturbed. His brother had never seemed to appreciate the finer things in life.

X

Skipping down the cold streets of Konoha, Sakura grinned at her friend behind her. Naruto as too busy yawning to really care. After a few more hours of sleep she had violently woken him up by jumping on his unsuspecting relaxed form. She really couldn't sleep that long when it was daylight, something that Naruto seemed to have no issues with. Although she was pretty sure that if her stomach hadn't woken her up by cramping with hunger pangs that she would still be snoozing comfortably next to her best friend. That was the one good thing about his house; his room basically resembled a cave. Pitch black twenty-four seven.

"Sakura," Naruto whined, "I'm hungry."

Smiling she grabbed ahold of her friend and dragged him toward the café that she worked at. Like hell she was going to let him lead her to his favorite ramen restaurant. She had had more than enough of that to satisfy any cravings for that for the rest of her life.

"We can either eat at my place or eat at Dei's." She said thoughtfully, with a finger placed gently on her chin. Naruto shrugged as he yanked his hand out the females grasp and shoved it into his hoodie pocket. Earning him a rather annoyed glare from the pink haired outcast.

"I have a girlfriend remember?" He mumbled looked down at his feet as he kicked a rock across the street. Sakura stopped walking and turned to her friend with a slightly sad frown on her face, before staring down at her feet. She kept forgetting that he had just recently got a girlfriend. It was so unlike him to even have one. He had always been the guy that most girls couldn't stand, overly hyper and loud. Also you really couldn't ever trust him to complete a task that was assigned to him without some serious ADHD issues. He was a hard person to understand and most of the time people didn't even want to bother with trying to figure him out. She hadn't even thought about it when she had showed up at his house. Ever since her mother Naruto had been her rock. When she needed someone she would and could always count on him. If she needed to hold someone's hand then he was always there, but now that he had a girlfriend she could only do that in private. And even then she didn't know how long he would let that go on. Her stripping down and crawling into bed with him she knew would eventually be stopping also.

"Hey," He said softly nudging her arm, "We will always be friends 'kay?"

Forcing a happy smile on her face, she didn't want him to worry about her. It was a normal thing for someone to enter a relationship; it was just strange for her to have her best friend whom she tended to keep to herself and sometimes only sometimes shared with Sasuke. She wasn't entirely sure she was alright with sharing him with another girl. A big breasted ungodly shy girl. She was a nice girl though; she and Naruto had known each other forever. With her pale eyes Hinata had always stood out from the rest of the females in their class. She was a nice girl though. It wasn't her fault that Sakura was just genetically wired to hate the people her friends tended to date and marry.

Sakura pursed her lips as she stood in front of her blonde haired friend, his face slightly contorted with worry before grinning broadly at him and messing up his longer than normal hair.

"You need a haircut fool!" She laughed, turning on her heel and skipping back down the street. Successfully convincing him that she was alright.

X

Naruto watched as one of the most important girls in his life went from sad to happy in a split second. He was used to her bipolar emotions by now, but for some reason they still bothered him at times. It didn't sit well with him that she hid what she was really feeling from everyone. She had always tried so hard to fit in when she had first moved there. But the moment her family split, she had faded from the cheery girl that would do anything to make people like her, to a shadow of herself. A shadow that he really didn't recognize. He knew from stories from her Aunt that her mother had always told her to be herself, he just wasn't entirely sure if she was doing that or being someone she wasn't. He just wasn't sure about her anymore.

He knew her better that anyone else. And he was positive that he was one of her only friends. It was rare moments like this that you could see her loneliness, or when she would come over to his house. It killed him that he going to have to stop their tradition of climbing into each other's beds. But when he opened the front door to tell her to leave and that they couldn't keep doing this, he had stopped himself. She had been standing there with a fake smug smile, and if there would have been some sort of light in her eyes he would have just shook his head and told her off, but instead there was none. He couldn't help but invite her inside. Usually she would just take off her pants and climb into bed with him. But for some reason this time she had taken off almost all of her clothes. It wasn't exactly something that he was against, he was always completely alright with seeing her naked. Who in their right mind wouldn't? His girlfriend be damned, he had let her climb into his bed and cuddle with him. He wasn't about to abandon his friend with the sort of issues that she had. He knew she was still suffering. She could deny it all she wanted but he knew the truth that no one else seen. It was the reason why she refused to move in with her Aunt.

He had been there for her through everything. He had been there when she held her mother's pale and cold hand. He had been there when her father had waved goodbye and walked away from her to board a plane back to the United States. He had been there when they had lowered the polished box six feet under. He had been there through it all. And not once did she ever cry or let any tears shed. That was why he was so scared to let her go. He didn't know what would happen if he just walked away from her. She needed him. It had helped that he knew what it was like to live without family. Both of his parents had died in a car wreck when he was younger, but he at least had his father's sensei that he had known since birth. It didn't feel much different living with him but then again Jiraiya was all he really knew.

He watched the pink haired girl with a soft smile as she glanced back at him with a confused look on her face. Shrugging his shoulders he moved so that he could catch up with her.

"I say Dei's." he murmured as he threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards his body in a comforting hug. Sakura didn't say anything as she slid her arm around his waist.

X

Deidara leaned against his now clean counter and watched as different people shuffled past the front doors of his parent's café that they had left to him when they had passed. It seemed that everyone's parents were leaving the material world. But it had been so many years since his parents had died he no longer really let it bother him. He was more concerned about his friend and tenant who were now sharing his old small apartment. It hadn't really been what he had wanted to do. He hadn't actually thought that he would take him up on the offer that he had extended so many months ago.

But when he had met up with his friend all that time ago, he had listened to him complain about his girlfriend and how she had basically forced him into being a vegan he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. So he had thrown the offer on the table. He didn't think that Sakura or Itachi would have that much of an issue with each other. Although he was pretty sure that he should have explained to his friend that the pinkette had a penchant for not wearing clothes. And she seemed to have a knack for rubbing people in the wrong way. You had to be a very special person to be able to understand and handle the girl that lived two stories above the café.

The moment that he had walked into the back room of the restaurant and saw his friend and her speaking to one another he knew that he it would be okay to put the two of them together. He figured that the honest and brutal pinkette would be good for his slightly up tight friend. They both radiated sadness about themselves, although he was sure that Sakura's was a much deeper sadness that she hid from everyone else. Itachi was just not happy with his life, and that was obvious.

He knew she would never admit to it but he saw the way that she sometimes grabbed ahold of her Naruto with a pleading look in her eyes. He had been around his fair share of girls in his lifetime and he knew how they worked. He was pretty good at analyzing people as well. He knew for a fact that Sakura could get Itachi to ignore everyone else and be himself. She just had that effect on people. Especially with his friend Kisame who had come to him when he had suddenly turned up homeless. At first he worried about what she would say, but with one look at him she welcomed him into her home and after that he started to notice a change in his friend.

Blinking a couple times he let a small smile come to his lips as his pink haired tenant walked into the café with her blond haired friends arm wrapped tightly around her shoulder. They quickly went to the back of the café to be alone and Dei couldn't help but shake his head. Moving his attention away from the duo he looked up as a female stood across from him at the counter. Sliding into one of the leather stools she let a small smile come to her glossed lips. Her designer bag resting on the clean counter.

Kimi Himora sat in front of him looking like a vision in her high fashion attire. Nodding his head in a greeting to her, he pretended that he didn't recognize her.

"May I help you?" He asked in a friendly tone.

"Do you happen to know where my boyfriend Uchiha Itachi is? I have heard that he was friends with the man who owned this…" She paused as she surveyed her surroundings. "establishment."

Not missing a beat Deidara smiled at the female before shaking his head no and offering to get her a drink.

X  
X

**AN: I am so tired. You guys are so lucky that I shelled out this chapter tonight. I figure I can at least attempt to update at least two to three times a week. But I'm about to be working a lot of overtime. So enjoy this long chapter. See you soon. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four – This is where we all come from  
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only this plot and my original characters.**

**X**

**X**

Sakura's life changed the moment she opened up her second birthday present.

Her mother had noticed for the longest time that her small child was obsessed with colors, with drawing shapes. Noticing that she was slightly better than most of the other children her age. So when Sakura opened up her birthday gift and instantly started to set it up she knew, she knew right then that her daughter was going to amount to brilliant things.

The moment that Sakura touched a paint covered brush to a canvas was the start of quick and even brush strokes that took her out of the real world. When she donned the apron and squeezed the tubes of paint on her pallet she was torpedoed out of her world and into a world where parents didn't fight and her mother never looked pale. She hadn't known at the time that it would be the one thing that would help save her from herself when she was older when the world decided that it was better off against her.

X

Terminal.

The doctors didn't have to explain anything about the illness. All she needed to know was that if it was terminal or not. She was smart for her age, and she knew the doctors didn't realize that she knew what they were talking about. Her father had a blank face plastered into place, and her mother was staring at the pale yellow puke colored walls. Neither looking to see if she was listening, neither bothering to check to make sure the door had been closed. Later her father would raise his voice to the nurse on shift for it. But at that moment Sakura felt her world stop.

Within a few hours her world was drastically changing, and instead of going home to visit her friends that she had made in America they would be packing their bags to go visit her mother's side of the family in Japan. A foreign country where most of the inhabitants had jet black hair and not her blonde. She would stand out and at the age of sixteen she knew that it shouldn't really matter. Her mother had taught her that to stand out was to demand attention and to demand attention you were more influential.

Terminal.

She had never been to Japan and she didn't know what to expect. She knew from listening to her parents that her mother had been sick for quite some time, but they had never used that _word._ She swore that that word was the worst that someone could say, all those others be damned. And within the next few weeks it felt like her world just blurred together. Her mother coming home from the hospital in the wheelchair. Her father packing up her pink room into boxes that were once meant to be sent to America but instead they had Japanese symbols stamped onto them. Her Aunt Tsunade was called and she was preparing a house for them and everything just kept passing her by.

One moment she was standing in the stark white hospital hallway staring at the wooden doorway that wasn't quite shut all the way. French nurses speaking to each other about other patients and personal problems passed by her, ignoring the small girl who was staring at the wood in disbelief. The world felt like a blur to her after that. One moment she was laughing with her mother as they played their grand piano together, the next her father was stone faced and listening intently to a doctor that was speaking in tongues. She understood though. She understood enough French to know what he was saying.

They hoped that she wouldn't know until they were ready. But life wasn't about if you were ready or not. Because if it were then she would never be ready for this. She would never be ready to watch her father pack up her pink room into cardboard boxes that were labeled in Japanese characters. She would never be ready to board the plane that was set for the however many hour flight to Japan, a country that she had never been too. The country that both her and her mother had been born in. She would never be ready to meet her Aunt Tsunade and wheel her mother into the grand house in a wheel chair. If life were fair she would never have to do any of these things. Instead she would be back in America with her friends that she hadn't seen since she was younger, meeting a nice American boy and attending what they called prom and her mother smiling at her and taking pictures like every other mother she heard of.

But no. She was looking around the white room that her Aunt had designated to her, and she could hear her mother coughing down the hallway. Her boxes of things stacked up against one of the bare walls. So for the first time without being on auto pilot she slowly walked over to the box labeled art and unpacked it.

Setting up her easel and squeezing colors onto the already stained wooden pallet she did the only thing that she could think of doing. She painted. She painted until her reality didn't exist anymore. She painted with grays, blacks and reds. She painted what her world looked like to her. And it was shortly after that she decided that the way she saw the world wasn't good enough.

That with her mother being ill that it would never be good enough.

X

Her mother quickly went from bad to worse. All in the matter of eight months. One moment she was plump with a healthy pink glow to her, and the next her skin looked gray as if she no longer had any life left in her body. The life blood that passed through her veins no longer held the red color that gave her the glow. No longer carried the important oxygen that kept her mother's lungs contracting and her chest going up and down. Her fingers were thin, and it felt like it was just yesterday that her mother had squeezed her hand with so much force that it felt like her fingers were going to fall off afterward.

She had been angry at her mother that day, she hadn't been in the mood to play around, but her mother had been. And at that moment when she slipped her small hands around her mother's frail ones she couldn't help but think back and wish that she would have squeezed her fingers back with just as much vigor.

The only thing that kept Sakura from crashing was her art. The art that her mother had loved and cherished so much. So every day she would walk home with her new friends and then proceed to paint her mother a new picture. Usually of places that they had been together, from old photographs that her mother had scrapbooked. The happiest times of their lives. She would paint them and then hang them on a spare easel in her mother's room. She would make sure the room was bright every day and her favorite flowers were blooming in a milk glass vase next to her live in bed. She did everything that she could to make her mother more and more comfortable.

The sicker she got the farther away her father got. The later he would stay out at night, arriving home in a drunken state, too drunk to walk up the flight of stairs and see his beloved wife. Throughout the last ten months of her mother's life, the six Sakura faced her alone. Stood by her bed and read her her favorite novels that she had once read to Sakura as a child, because she had been so annoying that her mother had to read them out loud to even be able to get past a page. The stories had never made sense to her at a young age. But now at the age of seventeen they made perfect sense. She would read into the early dawn hours for her mother, hoping that somehow her voice would ease her mother's pain. Sometimes it did, and other times she would have to journey across the massive house for her aunt and ask her to administer the morphine that had been prescribed.

There wasn't a day that went by that Sakura didn't walk into her mother's room with a new painting or with a new drawing. With a short story or with a novel. Not once did she leave her mother's side, and the entire time she watched with a poker face as her she deteriorated before her very eyes. Life only got faster when her mother was moved from her Aunts home to the local hospital that Tsunade worked at.

Her mother was in the hospital exactly Eight days and two hours before she passed away. One hundred and ninety two hours. Eleven thousand five hundred and twenty minutes. And for those eight days Sakura didn't attend school. She refused, and even when her father had attempted to coerce her into attending class for the day he was met by such resistance he didn't know how to respond, so he left walked away from her.

She was there when her mother opened her eyes for the last time, squeezed her hand with all the strength that she could muster. And with a tear, her mother closed her eyes for the last time. Sakura didn't know how long she had sat there with tears staining her cheeks. She didn't know when the nurses came into the room and shook her. Her body was back on auto pilot and there wasn't any going back. Her mother was no longer there. No longer there to give her life advice. No longer there to tell her if the top that she had just slipped on looked tacky or not.

She was just no longer there. Her body was, but all that remained of that was a gray lifeless form that was only a ghost of what her mother had been. Her smiling radiant mother was no longer smiling. Was getting covered up by the hospital staff with a white sheet. Was getting carted out of the bleach smelling hospital room. Was being taken away from her for good, leaving her with an Aunt that she barely knew, and a father that wanted nothing more than to forget this part of his life.

Her mother had left her alone in a world full of pain and hurt, and it didn't even make sense how much her chest hurt as the tears continued to fall from her eyes. She couldn't make sense of the fact that her favorite books were now just her favorite books, no longer shared with her mother. That her paintings were now only going to be viewed by her and not her biggest fan.

Her life stopped the day that her mother's did.

X

Only close family and friends attended the funeral. A good ninety percent of them she didn't know, her Aunt had people show up to support her and her father was sitting in all black in the farthest corner of the church with a flask held firmly in his hand. His face unshaven and she could tell that he was trying so hard to not show that he was sad. But she could see it. She could always see it.

She had prepared herself to sit through the hour long procession by herself, keeping a mask on her face so that no one could see that she was in pain. She was there for herself, because all that was left to be there for her was herself.

It had come as a surprise when she felt the cushion next to her sink with the weight of a person. The only person that she had known was her Aunt and she was across the room huddled around a bunch of her friends, casting worried glances her way. She had approached her after they had carted her mother's body away, but Sakura had feigned strength. Had said that she was happy that the suffering was finally over, that she would be okay and with that she politely squeezed her aunt's hand and walked off.

But it wasn't her aunt who had taken a seat next to her. Blinking her green eyes up at the grim face she couldn't help but let tears pool in her eyes. She hadn't expected him to be there, he had just been a person who was nice to her at school. One of the people who had instantly got along with her even though she barely spoke and always ready English novels.

Naruto Uzumaki was her rock that day. And for every day after.

Whether he knew it or not he was, and she clung to him for dear life. Held his hand through the funeral procession, held his hand through her father boarding the flight to America and his hand when nightmares plagued her at night. She cuddled his body when she felt cold from the grief but not once did she ever say it. Instead she always opted for an "I'm fine." Or a "Don't worry about me you moron, worry about yourself." She faked it every single day, and it almost disappointed her that he didn't see past it.

He was there when she moved into her Apartment above her work. He was there the first time she went out and partied, helping cart her home. Her smile never wavering throughout the entire night. He was there when she dyed her head pink and decided that she didn't want to be the blonde that her mother knew her as. She wanted to get out of her body. To not be herself, but for the life of her she couldn't bring herself to wallow in her own self-pity. She kept a smile on her face for her friends, for the people that she knew cared. That would say something if she let herself slip down the edge of the slippery cliff that she was on.

He was there when Kisame moved into the apartment which was a part of the deal with her boss. Not once did she think that she would be without her rock. Not once in all the time after her mother's funeral did Sakura once think that she would lose her rock. Lose her life raft that was slowly taking her to dry land.

But the moment he spoke, saying that he had a girlfriend, that their nights together, their hand holding, their everything would have to stop she realized then that her life raft was slowly loosing air. And that it didn't matter who came into your life, they would always eventually leave.

Sakura smiled as she watched her blond haired friend eye the plate of food that was just delivered to their table. Her rock was no longer there, all she had was herself now. And she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to cope with that. She could already feel herself start to sink, could already feel the darkness set in and the anguish start to consume her body. She had never cried. Her mother had passed away not even a year ago and she still hadn't let the mourn cycle start. She stopped it every time; instead she kept a smile plastered on her face and painted. Painted all the things that she thought her mother would love to see.

But now the only thing that was keeping her afloat was leaving her, and she couldn't help but let a few tears gather in her eyes. This lunch or whatever was a goodbye, her blonde haired friend just didn't know it yet.

X  
X

AN: So sorry it had taken me so long to upload this chapter! I'll continue working on the rest. But I hope you enjoy and please don't kill me if you cried!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five – This is where we all came from **

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. Just the plot and original characters. **

**!**

**!**

When Kisame moved in, everyone was worried.

Worried about Sakura's welfare, her world had completely crashed around her but she was still smiling. There was something wrong with that. Everyone who knew about death knew that if someone was still smiling then they were slowly dying on the inside. Slowly suffocating from the grief. But when he moved in with her he didn't see any of it. All he saw was a quiet high school girl who sat next to a large window and painted all day in a small amount of clothes.

Not once did he notice her sad looks or her gazes out of the window that was directly situated over a busy street. No one noticed. If he caught her looking any sort out of place he would speak up, but not once did she falter when it came to her smile and her 'I'm Okays.'

They had made up a story for him to be there. That he was having issues with his girlfriend/fiancé at the time and needed a place to crash. Mind you him moving in with a freshly legal high school student that liked to wear as little of clothing possible did cause issues, either way he was having a fight with his girlfriend, didn't matter how true or untrue it was, they were going to roll with it.

He had expected a lot of things when he first walked up the flight of stairs to her apartment. He expected a whiney school girl who was on her own for the first time. He thought that maybe the reason why his best friend was asking this favor was because she was partying too much. That she was having too many people come over to the house and too many strangers were leaving to never return again. What Kisame didn't expect when he walked into the spacious living area was a half-naked female throwing paint onto a rather large white canvas. He had expected dark hair with large eyes, a girl that looked like every other Japanese girl that he encountered. But instead he encountered a pink haired, slender, sarcastic and slightly morbid girl that was just freshly legal. He expected her to be working on homework or something because if she was in her third year of high school then she would be taking her school finals soon. But no. There were no school books lying about, instead there were book upon books of English novels and Japanese manga's. American music blasting from the speakers from her television set. He honestly had no idea what to think. He was thrown the moment he walked into that apartment; it was also walking that apartment that changed his life.

It wouldn't be later until he realized how very lucky he was to have gotten so close to the pink haired female. He would realize that he did the one thing that most other people were never able to accomplish. He got her to open up.

He had expected to be a babysitter for the next six weeks what he hadn't expected was for her to teach him about life, and how it was so important to cherish the ones around you.

It was something that she had said to him one of the nights that they had been sitting on her couch while watching some British show. He had been complaining about his girlfriend and how his mother was suffocating him with her presence because she wanted grandbabies already. He hadn't noticed her stiffen next to him. So when she suddenly spoke up it had surprised him. But it was what she had said that got to him, and made him completely reevaluate his life. His stormy relationship with his girlfriend and his annoying relationship with his mother. He would always remember the look in her bright green eyes when she formed the words on her lips,

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."

It was shortly after that that he reconciled his differences with his girlfriend and moved out. It was also shortly after that that him and his mother had worked out all their problems. That they had sat down together and spoke about everything. He didn't know why the phrase had moved him so much. But it was her eyes behind the words that got to him. What he had seen was pure grief. That was the last time that he spoke about his problems to her. He never wanted to see that look on her face again. Never wanted to see her eyes shine that dully again. She was too beautiful to be that sad.

It had only been a few weeks away from her when he got another call from his friend and her boss. He was worried about her again, her blond haired friend was slowly not coming around and he could tell that she was more lonely than normal. Down beat songs could be heard from the stair well to her apartment and he wanted him to at least come visit for the weekend. But it was a night after that that Itachi had come to Deidara asking for a place to stay. And Kisame was almost disappointed that he wouldn't be there for the pink haired girl again, so he had promised himself that he would just go and visit.

And that was why he was there now. Standing in front of the apartment door with his knuckles formed ready to knock. He knew how she was, how she made terrible first impressions. And he knew how his dark haired friend was, he had asshole tendencies. Those two together could potentially clash at each other that would cause a major disaster. He was worried, he'd admit that. He was also slightly jealous, he wouldn't admit that.

All he could think about was how the Uchiha was. He dark and stoic demeanor made people want to clock him right between the eyes, and with Sakura's personality he was vaguely sure that she would actually be one of those people who would go through with the physical contact.

It was after two sharp rapts on the door when it opened to show Itachi with dripping wet hair with a towel loosely wrapped around his hips. Kisame held back a disappointed frown as he nodded at the Uchiha before letting himself into the apartment. He couldn't help but wish that it was the bright haired, happy go lucky girl that he had grown to adore that had opened the door.

!

Days had passed since Kisame's sudden arrival at her apartment. She had arrived home only a few moments after Itachi had let him in. And the rest of the night had been spent with them talking about everything that had been going on lately. Itachi had disappeared into the back to where his room was to change into clothes and she had sat on the couch smiling politely as she listened to Kisame talk about his girlfriend and how well they were doing. How she was even okay with him coming and visiting her. Sakura only nodded here and there, but she knew it didn't escape his notice that she didn't speak much.

She had just arrived home from practically saying goodbye to her blond haired partner in crime. Although he hadn't realized it yet. She had it all planned. She was just going to start to pretend she had work or things to do whenever he asked to hang out, but with his new girlfriend she knew that that wouldn't be often. She was alone once again, but she could deal. She would have too. Besides she had a new roommate, she could focus her attention of making his life better so that he could move out quickly enough so that she could go back to just being by herself. Get back to painting the portraits that she coveted.

It was on a Sunday night when she was catching up on one of her favorite American TV shows when he had sat down next to her. They were quiet for a few moments before she finally decided to break the ice. Considering the last time that she had spoken to him was the morning after he arrived, and it hadn't been exactly the nicest. Since then she had either worked or completely ignored him by going into her room and shutting the door. She needed to make the awkwardness disappear because she was dying to set a paintbrush to the canvas once again. She was having nightmares again, and she knew the only way to get them out of her head was to lose herself in the fumes of turpentine.

"What do you like to eat?" She asked, her voice coming out in soft waves.

Itachi glanced away from the show that was flashing across the large TV screen and toward her and she couldn't help but squirm slightly in her plush seat. His presence made her nervous, almost like Sasuke had first done. Except her crush on that Uchiha had ended in a rather vicious way. She had just arrived back to school after what had happened and he had been nothing but rude to her, they had been on speaking terms and at that moment she didn't know what had come over her. He had asked where she had been and she had asked simply for a hug. She knew that he wasn't the touchy feely type, but at that moment all she wanted was someone to just tell her everything was okay. Instead he just gave her a blank look and rolled his eyes before walking away. She knew Naruto told him about what had happened, and that was probably why it had hurt so much worse than it should have.

"Well." Itachi spoke up, causing Sakura to snap out of her thoughts and turn her attention back to him. His voice was smooth. Sort of like velvet, nearly perfect. And for some reason she associated it with chocolate. Melted milk chocolate.

She was pretty sure she was already going off the deep end. Before this conversation was over she was pretty sure she was going to drown herself in metaphorical chocolate. Anything to keep her from speaking any more than she had too.

"I like non-vegetarian foods."

Sakura blinked at his answer. His face still impassive, he went back to watching the show that she had grown to obsess over.

"Well, we will have to go shopping. I don't really keep food here."

He nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Deidara told me you burn water. Is that true?"

The rosette blinked a couple times before blushing crimson. She really wasn't that great of a cook, and it was something her boss liked to make fun of her for. She had meant to learn, her mother had been a phenomenal cook. She had always raced home from school to see what type of gourmet food that she had decided to work on that night. But everything had happened before she really could learn. She still had all her cookbooks and recipes that she had invented and worked on throughout her life though.

She nodded slowly, her lips sealed.

"Well," He inhaled, "I guess we will have to fix that"

All she could bring herself to do was blink again. This was unreal to her. Not many people could make her go mute for a few moments, but she didn't exactly know what to think of this guy. Not once did he give away anything that he was feeling. Normally within the first week she had people spilling out their life story to her, all without her mentioning a word about hers. That's how she had got Kisame out of her hair so fast. She liked the guy and all, but there was only so much complaining about ones parents and significant other that she could handle. She could still feel the bitterness want to rise when she recalled about how his mother constantly bothered him for grandbabies. She no longer had that. She would have to do everything on her own when it came down to having children. She didn't have anyone except for her Aunt, and right there she didn't feel welcome even though she knew her mother's sister would break through numerous walls for her, she couldn't bring herself to be around her just yet.

She just reminded her way too much of her mother. They looked so much alike, Sakura knew that all her walls would end up breaking.

"Fix it?" She asked her voice quiet. Her attention no longer on her show but fully on him.

"Just come to my work tomorrow after you get out of class, we can take my car to the nearest store and get the items that we need."

Sakura could only nod in agreement as he stood up from the couch and walked away from her and toward the back of the apartment where his room was located.

!

If it weren't for her mother being so big on education, Sakura was sure that she would have all together quit going the moment her mother's last breath escaped her body. Because the moment her last breath became carbon monoxide was the moment that it didn't matter anymore. Her mother was dead, and it wasn't like she believed in an afterlife. That had stopped the moment she learned of the cancer that was spreading like wildfire through her worlds bones. Her god or whoever it was didn't exist, because her mother no longer breathed the same air as her. He never answered her prayers when it came to saving her. And her childhood in the Catholic Church was completely washed down the drain the moment she heard the word 'terminal'. If he loved his children so much he wouldn't put them through so much pain.

It was a typical day, overcast with a chance of rain. A Styrofoam cup of coffee in one of her hands and a worn canvas messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She was dreading school, mostly because she would have to once again face everyone. She was almost tempted to just skip class for the day and feign sick. But she knew that they would then call her aunt and then she would have one hell of time explaining to her why she didn't attend school for the day. Bracing herself she pushed passed the glass doors and headed toward her homeroom class. She just hoped that everyone would leave her alone today.

She had been so awfully wrong. Not only did no one leave her alone, but there was a rumor flying around school that her and Naruto had a fling with each other causing her to be the other woman. Something that she could easily fit the role of if she really wanted too. Honestly with the amount of times that her almost naked body had pressed up against his she could easily be the other woman, but she'd never do that to Naruto. To Hinata perhaps, but never to Naruto. So every time someone had approached her about it she quickly fought off any accusations and went onto her next class, trying hard to focus on the current book that she was reading. She was finally trying her hand at Japanese literature, and she was almost wishing that she had Naruto walking around with her to explain certain caricatures. She had lived in the country for a little under a year, she had pretty much got the language down, but reading it was a whole other level. She still had to get help with certain people when it came to papers.

Slamming her books down in her sanctuary of an art room, she slouched down into her chair. Thanking whatever deity that people chose to worship up in the sky. Without hesitation she flipped open her sketch pad and perused the pages that were already covered in graphite. She had started the new book on her birthday a few months back and it was mostly filled with ideas for paintings. Most of them were flowers or buildings she had found while going through photo albums. The year anniversary of her mother's death was looming over her head and in about two months she would be setting up a painting on her mother's grave, and it was taking her forever to figure out what she wanted to paint for that difficult day. Putting her head in her hand as she flipped past the pages and looked at reference material. That was how she stayed for the rest of her class and for the last hour of school.

!

Itachi couldn't shake her. And by gods he had been trying for the past couple hours. This is what he got for actually attending work. But he had paper work to fill out, meetings to reschedule and a secretary to fire. Oh and he supposed he needed to rehire another one. Perhaps this time he should just go with an ugly one that would sit there and watch him with annoying eyes the entire time he worked. Honestly he would be happier without one.

"Itachi!" A female voice called, echoing through the lobby.

He kept his pace and hurried toward the elevator right as it was about to close. It shut right before she reached him. Sighing in relief he sagged against the wall of the enclosed space. He could feel people's eyes on him but he knew all he had to do was open his eyes and throw a glare at them and they would all turn their attention away from him and to something else.

Opening his eyes he peered down at his wrist watched and noticed that the time was getting closer for Sakura to show up at his office and he couldn't help but hope to god that she didn't show up right while Kimi was still there. Explaining a high school girl visiting him was in itself a difficult thing to explain, but to explain to his father _and _to Kimi was something that he really found troublesome. The only bright side was that Sakura was of legal age, or at least he seriously hoped so. He didn't think Dei would shack him up with an underage girl. His friend wasn't that much of a pervert.

He was out of the cramped space the moment the elevators hit the eleventh floor. Walking briskly into his office he already noticed that the secretary he had fired earlier had already removed all of her things and a new one was setting her stuff up. He didn't bother to stop and introduce himself; instead he walked past her and straight into his office. Right as he sat down on his chair though she walked into the room, her heels clacking loudly against the expensive floor. She quietly sat down some files on his desk and eyed him levelly.

"Your father stopped by here looking for you; I covered and said that you had a long lunch because your girlfriend came by to speak to her. That pacified him. Also, you're 3o'clock canceled and wanted to reschedule for next week. Already rescheduled him. The new schedules are in the folder on top and there is coffee being brewed right now if you wanted any."

Itachi blinked a couple times before nodding his head at her. The female's face stayed blank as she turned on her heel and walked briskly out of the room and returned to her desk and began to type on her computer and answer the phone every time it rang. One ring and she had it.

_This could possibly work out well._ He thought to himself as he watched her answer another phone call. Reaching over and pressing his intercom,

"Yes sir?" Came her static voice.

"What's your name?" He asked. He watched a ghost of a smile appear across her glossed lips before she responded.

"Himiko, sir."

"Thank you Himiko." He released the intercom button and let her return to her job as he returned to his.

It was exactly thirty minutes after their exchange he looked up to see his dark haired girlfriend glaring and yelling at the girl behind the desk. He had to give Himiko credit though; she didn't blink or waver once at his girlfriend's shrill voice. Pressing the intercom button he quickly gave permission to let the irrational girl enter. Kimi didn't skip a beat, the moment he permitted her entry she was standing right in front of his desk. Her manicured hand resting against her perfectly shaped hips. He raised an eyebrow.

"Where the fuck have you been?" She seethed through her teeth.

"I needed some time to think." He deadpanned.

That was the best thing to do with her, to be as honest as you could with her. Even though most of the time she still thought you were lying to her and that you had a hidden agenda.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. I even went to that dinky café that your friend from college owns looking for you. And let me tell you, he needs to seriously think about hiring different help."

Itachi raised his eyebrow once again. So she had been there, that could easily explain his friends face when he had opened the door to the apartment the other day.

"He had a waitress that had pink hair. Pink hair! For crying out loud, such a terrible establishment..." She continued on.

"I've seen nothing but profits from that _dinky_ establishment as you call it. So he must be doing something right. And I find the pink hair slightly refreshing." He murmured in his soft tone, cutting her off in the middle of her rant.

She stood there in front of him for a few moments before shutting her mouth and sitting down on the black chair that was situated in front of his desk that was usually reserved for clients.

"So you needed to think?" She asked, her high pitched voice toning down.

Itachi nodded his head as he watched the emotions flash across her face. He guessed that that was a good thing about her. That he could so easily guess when she was in a bad mood or in a good mood. She was definitely easier to read than his new roommate.

"Are you done thinking?" She asked, this time her voice soft almost as if she was whispering. But he could still hear her fine.

"No." He responded, making sure to keep his stoic mask on as he watched tears formed at the rims of her eyes. She nodded her head and then spoke again,

"When do you think you will be?"

Itachi licked his lips; he honestly didn't know when he would be ready to face the step that she had proposed to him. That both her and her father wanted him to face. He didn't know if he was ready for marriage just yet. Yes he was the heir to the business and to the family, but he wasn't too sure if he was ready to just throw away all his freedom to be married to a female that he couldn't stand a good portion of the time. But then again they did have some good times together. But there were too few good times compared to the bad times. He never thought that he would be engaged to a female that was so materialistic. Then again she was someone his father had picked out for him.

"I don't know Kimi." He responded after a few minutes of silence.

She didn't say anything, only nodded her head, picked up her bag and went to leave his office. Glancing down at his watch he thanked his lucky stars that she was leaving before his pink haired roommate showed up to go shopping.

"I'll text you." Kimi murmured before donning her high fashion sunglasses and walking out of his office, past his secretary and into the elevator at the end of the room.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he didn't notice Himiko walk into his room. She stood there for a few moments before coughing and making her presence known. Itachi looked up at her and waited.

"She's crazy." She said pointedly, "If she walks in here accusing me of sleeping with you again, you can fire me because I will clock her."

Itachi blinked as she turned back on her heel and went back to her desk. His day just kept getting more and more interesting. Although he couldn't help but wonder who hired the girl called Himiko?

!

Sakura was early.

Or at least she thought she was it was only fifteen minutes after school was let out and normally it was a twenty minute walk but she had raced out of her hell so fast she found herself running towards the business district, stopping only to catch a bus to the closest stop of her destination. Evading wandering hands in the buses like a pro she walked briskly up to the Uchiha Corp building. She had never been here, only in the front lobby to wait for Sasuke to get out of a meeting with his father. She had never thought in a million years that she would be meeting up with the elder Uchiha, the heir of the company.

Walking into the pristine lobby she made her way toward the lobby, tuning out all the stares that were being directed her way. She knew she stood out in general where she worked at and her school. But it felt a bit more unnerving being in the middle of a multi-million dollar company with pink hair and her school uniform. She hadn't even taken the time out to change into regular street clothes, which was probably a good thing, because knowing her her street clothes were so much worse than her modest uniform.

Stepping into an elevator she accidently ran her shoulder into another female, one with dark hair and expensive sun glasses. Sakura quickly mumbled an apology before stepping into the elevator and pressing the number eleven button. She didn't fail to notice the female with sunglasses hadn't moved from her spot and was now staring intently at her. She purposely made eye contact with her before the elevator doors shut.

The moment she stepped out of the elevator she couldn't help but be slightly amazed at the eleventh floor. It was massive. From the massive lobby that seated numerous plush waiting chairs to the view that would make anyone with a fear of heights go numb in the knees. On one side of the room there was glass wall of windows and double glass doors that lead into a room with a long table with an intercom situated in the middle of the dark wood table. Comfortable chairs seated all around it. Walking slowly into the room she noticed the small kitchenette that was parallel from the woman sitting at the huge oak desk that she slightly envied. She always loved desks, she actually had her mother's vintage desk waiting for her whenever she moved into a much larger place, but for now she had left it at her Aunts in her mother's old room.

She approached the working secretary with caution, before muttering an excuse me. The female looked up from her computer and stared at her for a few moments before quirking her eyebrow in confusion. The woman quickly scanned the massive calendar that was lying on her desk. Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"I'm sorry but I wasn't scheduled for a meeting with him."

The female blinked again before reaching across the desk to press what Sakura could only guess was the intercom speaker. But before she could press it, Itachi emerged from his office, his suit jacket being pulled on as he spoke to her quickly. Setting the files that he held in his left hand he dropped them on the desk and gave instructions to the female. All without introducing Sakura and she didn't need to ask why. She knew that he would probably be grilled about it the next day. Turning toward her she caught his eyes scan her from top to bottom.

"Ready?" He asked.

_Melted chocolate._ Inner her sighed.

Sakura nodded her head before waiving a small goodbye to the secretary she followed the elder Uchiha out of his office, into the elevator and down to the parking garage.

!

There were a few things that Sakura appreciated. She appreciated gentlemen – they were so rare these days – She appreciated good art – She was very frequent at the local art museums – She appreciated attractive males and their bodies, i.e. her new roommate, but she could definitely appreciate foreign cars. She had grown up with her father explaining the ins and outs of cars. Even going as far to help him refurbish classics when she was younger. She couldn't remember what certain parts of vehicles were called but she could change the oil in just about any car and change a tire. She was proud that she could recall that much.

She stood there like a fish out of water staring at his black sleek convertible for a few moments before he motioned for her to slide in.

They weren't in the car long before they arrived at the local supermarket. Walking into the store she grabbed a cart and proceeded to walk down the aisles with the still suited up Uchiha. She noticed the stares of her fellow patrons and even the workers of the place. She didn't say much as she watched him grab for certain items and place them in the cart. It felt strange, shopping with him. She hadn't done anything like this since before her mother had passed, they had used to attend the farmers market every Saturday morning to get the freshest vegetables for the week. Usually Deidara went shopping for her, and if she happened to be the one shopping she would usually just buy ramen in bulk, milk and then maybe some pop tarts or some ice cream if she was feeling generous to herself. If Deidara went shopping he bought her everything that was easily microwavable. But normally she would just head down to the café to grab a bite to eat. Her days of fancy eating were long behind her. And sometimes she couldn't help but miss it.

Every time she went back and reminisced she couldn't help but become bitter because of all those moments. She had always just thought they were just normal days, days that she really wished that she could sleep in instead of waking up at the crack of dawn to beat the rush. Her mother had practically dragged her everywhere. And every single time there had always been a fight.

_Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory..._

It was what her mom used to always tell her when Sakura had complained. Quoting one of her favorite authors, Dr. Seuss. It was one of her favorite go to quotes when it came to Sakura fighting her with doing things her way. That was her mother's thing. Quotes. She had so many throughout her life it couldn't help but be instilled into Sakura's life. All of her favorites were glued into Sakura's memory as if they were originally her favorite things. Her favorite authors, along with favorite songs. About a year or two before she had passed she had discovered a singer that she had all but fallen in love with. And the lyrics to the song still sang through her bring from time to time. A song about life. Her mother had loved it so much and played it so much that it wasn't long before her and her father had banned her from listening it on the speakers of their home. She was grounded to only listening to it through her headphones.

Sakura glanced at the now full cart of groceries and then back at the Uchiha. They were already checking out the food and he was pulling out his billfold getting ready to pay. She couldn't help but let a sliver of sadness escape her carefully built mask. She had missed this.

!

AN: Double whammy. What now! Ha. I had to make up for the super sad chapter four now didn't I. Hope you enjoy. Review. I do live off those.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six – This is where we all came from

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own my original characters and plot.

!

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He noticed things.

He noticed the way that her cheery smile would suddenly not look so cheery all of a sudden, the way that she would stare off into space. He'd catch her paintbrush hanging in mid air as she stared blankly at the canvas in front of her. The way that she didn't like to sleep, and if she did cave and actually go to sleep he would always be woken up in the middle of the night with her music on and things crashing to the ground. But those things would always be picked up in the mornings before he could comment on them.

She rarely spoke to him, and if she did it would only be to ask him when he was coming home for the evening. He tried to steer clear of her, trying to make it to where his life didn't clash too badly with her. But the more he was around her the more he paid attention to her daily life. To her activities and he could swear he was starting to understand the way she moved around in her day to day life.

He noticed the way that she was protective of her friends and her personal life, only letting bits and pieces of how she really was doing seep through her walls so that it would satisfy the people who always worried about her. He noticed how her annoying blonde partner in crime no longer came around. But what he really noticed was the way that he was going out of his way to pay attention to her. He wasn't the type to care. His features were always stoic, and he usually never cared about other people's welfare. He cared about what was going on in his parents and siblings life, but that was about the extent of his compassion. But there was something about this pink haired girl that got to him. Grief radiated from her body and every time he was around her it seemed the room would get gloomy.

But he was pretty sure that no one else really noticed. Considering whenever people were around her and she was aware of it, she would have a smile plastered on her face and her walls would be up. The gloom is something that only he experienced whenever he would quietly slip into the apartment after he was done with work. That was when he would catch her with all her walls down. He would never forget the expression on her face when he had slipped in one night without her noticing.

There were nights that after she had unknowingly woke him he would creep into the main room to check on her, only to find her sitting on the hard wood floor in front of the glass coffee table, photographs and photo albums strewn across it. The books that had littered the table before pushed half hazardly to the floor, their existence not even mattering compared to the worn photographs.

He knew that their friends were worrying about her, and he could tell by the way that she moved that she was like a robot. Always on auto pilot, smile just enough to make it through the day. The once the doors closed to the rest of the world he would see her body slump down with exhaustion. And for some crazy reason he felt himself wanting to do something about it. Wanting to do something, anything to experience a genuine smile blossom on her face.

It was for that reason why he was standing in the kitchen staring at the wood cabinets. She hadn't even touched the groceries that he had bought days ago, hadn't even seen her break out one of the new skillets that he knew his friend had bought especially for her. Itachi peered at her from across the room. She was once again sitting blankly in front of her canvas, in her signature lack of clothes; she hadn't even noticed that he had come home yet. He stood there silently, leaning against the wooden counter top and watched her. He could see her hand hover over the canvas with a piece of charcoal. Her eyes glazed with an emotion that he couldn't quite place, but from the way she was staring he could only assume that it was sadness. He maneuvered slightly around the island so that he could get a better look at the scene that she had been working on.

He was only able to make out a vague scene of an outdoors market before she noticed his presence.

"Have you eaten?" He asked, his voice breaking through the silence. The blank face that was looking at him moments before quickly transformed into one that he knew she put on for their mutual friends. She stood up too quickly from her stool and ended up knocking items over onto the covered floor. He raised his eyebrow as she fumbled with her things. She smiled sheepishly as she quickly bent over to pick them all up and place them back to their designated homes.

!

He had completely caught her off guard. When he had left the apartment earlier in the morning he had mentioned about how he probably wouldn't be back till well into the evening. But from what the digital clock was saying on her microwave in her kitchen it was only three in the afternoon. Way earlier than the dusk that he had predicted, but a bit later than his normal work hours. But then again it was a Saturday, A day that he didn't normally have to work.

Biting her lip, she self-consciously crossed her arms over her chest. She had opted to wear her comfy clothes today, actually the moment that he had shut the door to the apartment she had ripped off her extra layers that he had insisted that she start to wear when he had first moved in.

Slowly she shook her head no, successfully answering his question. She watched in curiosity as he nodded his head and then began to loosen his tie and slide off his suit jacket. She watched with her sharp eyes as he slowly unbuttoned his sleeve cuffs and roll them up to his elbows, showing off his muscular forearms. She couldn't help but shake slightly as he bent down and opened up a cupboard door, removed a pan and then continuing on to the freezer to remove the frozen meat. Laying the food on the counter he placed his hand on his hips and casted her one of his hooded look, that she swore could mean any number of things, but only one seemed to be lingering in her mind.

She wasn't going to deny that he was good looking. He resembled his younger brother almost to a T, although he had a more mature and sharp look about him compared to Sasuke. Ever since he had walked through her apartment door that week ago he had lingered in her thoughts. And she couldn't deny that his presence was helping her cope a bit better now that Naruto was no longer in the picture. Not that he wanted to be out of the picture in the first place. She had been ignoring his texts and phone calls for the past few days, steering clear of him at their school. So far she had been successful, but it was only a matter of time before they ran into each other again.

"What?" She asked after a few minutes of him staring at her. Her eyebrow rose as he motioned for her to come join him. Slowly she moved her feet and made her way towards him, wary of him. Wary of everything about him.

It was that day that he had taught her how to make chili. An American dish that he had learned while he had been abroad and living in a dorm in the States. She was quiet the entire time, but he was patient with her. Uncharacteristically patient, and he was sure that if any of his friends or family members would have entered the apartment as he coached her through the process he wouldn't have heard the end of it for the rest of his life. There was just something about this girl, she wasn't entirely hopeless. He had noticed how she approached everyone and everything with extreme caution and hesitation. Acting as if the people she befriended would just vanish into thin air and the things that she began would just no longer work for her.

He hadn't meant to frighten her when he had approached her. He had thought that he had made enough noise when he walked in for her to hear him, but she had obviously been so caught up in whatever she had been thinking that she hadn't. Oh but he noticed her. He noticed the sway of her hips as she crossed the room to him, the thin bands of her lace panties that she was wearing. He could only imagine how easy it would be for his fingers to slip between them and touch the exposed pale flesh.

There were numerous times where he had to move away from the girl so that he could contain himself, to hold himself off from touching her. He was in a relationship, and she was his kid brother's age. He didn't understand why he was so attracted to her, yeah she was gorgeous, had a killer body and legs that seemed to go on for days. But there was something else about her that made him want her. Her air of mystery. Her unwillingness to speak to others. Her loneliness that she tried so hard to hide. He knew that something bad had happened to her, but he wasn't entirely sure what had happened. He had even gone as far as to call his younger brother to ask. But Sasuke didn't know, Deidara didn't know. All he knew was that her father had left the country a few months back to go to America. The reasoning why behind Sakura stayed behind in Japan no one was really sure of. Kisame had never bothered to ask, stating that it wasn't his place to pry into her life; he just knew that she stayed behind for family. That was all she had ever let out about herself.

Don't get his blue haired friend wrong, there had been plenty of times where he had been curious enough to try to get to know her. Tried to learn about her history and why she had moved to Japan in the first place, at the end of her high school career. But every time he broached the subject she would quickly change it. Only letting out little parts of what her life used to look like. Itachi hadn't had the luck to have her give him little puzzle pieces, but then again they hadn't really spoken to each other. Other than the occasional, Hey how are you? Or how was your day? Or when do you get off work? That was all they ever said to each other, and for once Itachi found himself crossing the threshold to try to start a conversation with a female, when usually it was the other way around.

He moved around her slowly as she stirred the thick red concoction on the stove. Letting his hand rest on her waist he reached for the chili seasoning. He could feel her warm flesh through her cotton shirt, and if he looked down at the right anger he could see the peaks of her nipples that begged for his attention through the shirt. He was aware of her body tensing up and then slowly relaxing. He figured that she wasn't used to being touched and that didn't surprise him in the least. He hadn't expected her to speak, he just knew that she would have to learn eventually how to cook for herself and not live off the salt packed ramen that his brothers best friend practically lived off of.

It wasn't until they were sitting at the island, a hot bowl of chili in front of each of them that she spoke. Her voice soft as she blew on the cuisine that she had looked so longingly at the entire time.

"We used to have this every Sunday in the winter."

Itachi glanced up from his food as he watched her eyes glaze over as she let distant memories flash through her mind. She smiled softly at what she was thinking before eating a spoonful. Closing her eyes in what he could only guess was delight.

"Although," She continued, "My mother's was better. I have never met anyone who could out cook her."

"Every winter?" He asked, his curiosity peaked, and she was finally giving him a puzzle piece that he had been craving for.

She let a dazzling smile come to her face as she looked at him, words coming from her mouth as she relived the memory that he could only assume was a cherished one from the way that her eyes lit up.

"Yeah." She laughed, "We would have it so much that my father would get so annoyed with it. He would always end up begging my mom to make something different. So pretty soon my mom started to get creative. It's been a long time since I've had a day like that."

"Because your father moved back to America?" He asked his attention focused on his hot soup. It had happened so quickly, one moment her face was lit up with an elation that he knew you couldn't fake the next it was back to the far off blank look that she usually sported.

"You could say that." She replied as she swirled her spoon in the red mixture.

"Why don't you just have your mom make it for just you and her? You can still keep that tradition alive. There are a lot of people I know whose father isn't involved with the family anymore. Just because your father left doesn't mean that you guys can't keep having those moments." He murmured, as he took another bite. When he looked up again her eyes were dull. He watched as she pushed the bowl away from her and placed her hands in her lap.

"If only it were that easy." She whispered.

!

There were days in her life where she wished that she could rewind her life and just go home. Before the sickness had ravaged her mother's body, breaking up their family and her spirit. She wanted so much to be able to go home and crawl into her mother's king size bed and watch old black and white movies with her. To walk the few blocks to go to the farmers market that her mother shopped at every morning. To be able to walk into her rose colored room, with her old bed, with its pink sheets and white down comforter, with the way too large pillows that her and her mother had made one rainy day when they had first moved to France for her father's job. But her old comforter and sheets were still packed away in the boxes that were still sitting in the unused room at her Aunt's house. And she wasn't sure where her home was anymore. Her apartment could be considered one; it had all her stuff that she had bought since she had arrived in Japan almost two years ago. But still it wasn't home. Because home was where everything was warm and you sleep throughout the night without waking up with wet tears on your face. Her home was shattered, and by the gods she wished that she could bring it all back.

Ever since they made the chili, she had avoided him. Or at least avoided him as much as she could. The Uchiha had now gotten into the habit of offering her rides to school so that she didn't have to worry about catching the bus. It was endearing, and it got on her nerves. She didn't want him to be that way. She wanted him to be like everyone else she encountered, she wanted him to keep his distance. Kisame had kept his distance, they had got along well. He existed next to her, spoke to her about their mutual interests, he wasn't like Itachi. Itachi didn't just coexist, it seemed as if he was slowly weaving his life into hers, trying to make her open up and speak to him about all the nightmares in her life. The most frightening part was that she was tempted to let him in, only frightening because she knew that eventually he would end up leaving her, making it to where she would be alone in the end.

She had been excused from school early that day having claimed stomach pains, so that she could avoid him maybe showing up to give her ride. She had planned on going straight home to her small little apartment. But somehow she had found herself walking in an older part of Konoha. Old traditional houses stood on both sides of the road, but the one that she was focusing on was at the end of the block with a huge Sakura tree in the front. No one had inhabited the house in years. Her aunt had tried many different times to get her to sell it, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to let it go and let others move into it.

Pulling out the key from her hoodie pocket, she unlocked the back door and made her way through the rooms. A light film of dust covered the counters, and furniture that had never been removed. All of her grandparent's cherished belongings were still there, as if they hadn't stopped living. Making her way up the stairs and towards the back rooms, bypassing her grandparent's master bedroom she slid open the door to her mother's childhood room. Inhaling deeply she let herself sink onto the hard wood floor, her knees pulled to her chest. This was the one place that she knew no one knew of. Only her Aunt, but it wasn't her Aunt that had ownership to the house, it was her. It was also the only place that she felt closest to her mother at. As if her spirit was wrapping its arms around her.

She buried her head into her knees.

"Please come back home." She whispered.

When they had read the will, it had clearly stated that all of her mother's belongings now belonged to her only child, Sakura. The house that she had inherited from her own parents was now in Sakura's name. The money from the life insurance that she had taken out had been signed to also go to her daughter. Sakura's father Martin didn't get any of it. And throughout the entire reading he had drank from his flask and stared at the garden through the window.

Tsunade had tried to help. Help her father put down the bottle, and help her manage the house. But like father like daughter they both shut her out. Her father deciding that he needed to go back home and start over, and Sakura deciding that she was going to make the small island country her home. The place where her mother was originally raised and had met her father. She didn't have any plans on leaving this country. She had never been good with being too far away from her mom.

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An: So I went back and rewrote it. I like this version better. I live off those reviews by the way.

Enjoy.


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